Publications & Testimony

An August 2003 Charlotte Observer/​NBC‑6 poll revealed that near­ly half of those sur­veyed in North and South Carolina say the states should pause exe­cu­tions until the death penal­ty sys­tem is deemed fair. Of the 908 respon­dents, 48% voiced sup­port for a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions and 41% were opposed. While men were about equal­ly split on the ques­tion, 50% of women favored a mora­to­ri­um and 35% opposed it. Among African American respon­dents, 67% favored a mora­to­ri­um, while…

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen has issued a tem­po­rary reprieve for death row inmate Philip Workman, who was sched­uled for exe­cu­tion on September 24^th. Noting that there is an ongo­ing fed­er­al crim­i­nal inves­ti­ga­tion that may shed light on Workman’s case, Bredesen stat­ed,​“So long as there are out­stand­ing issues that may be relat­ed to this case, the only prop­er thing to do is to wait until those ques­tions have been answered. I am a sup­port­er of the death penal­ty, but…

An International coali­tion of non-gov­­ern­­men­­tal orga­ni­za­tions will spon­sor a World Day Against the Death Penalty on October 10^th, 2003. The coali­tion will host local events through­out the world to draw atten­tion to their con­cerns about cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. Among the events sched­uled are debates, con­certs, and lec­tures. The coali­tion will also host an Internet event urg­ing repeal of the death penal­ty in all coun­tries that main­tain the prac­tice, includ­ing the United…

As the October 1^st dead­line for Florida inmates to request DNA test­ing of evi­dence that could prove their inno­cence looms, Broward County pros­e­cu­tors have announced that they will allow inmates access to the cru­cial test­ing after the dead­line pass­es. Two of Florida’s high­­est-pro­­file DNA exon­er­a­tions, Frank Lee Smith, who died of can­cer on death row 11 months before he was exon­er­at­ed by DNA evi­dence, and Jerry Frank Townsend were both Broward County cas­es. Carolyn McCann,…

“The Wrong Men: America’s Epidemic of Wrongful Death Row Convictions” by Stanley Cohen is slat­ed for release in October 2003. This book tells the sto­ry of how more than 100 inno­cent peo­ple found them­selves on death row in the United States. Through an exam­i­na­tion of eye­wit­ness error, jail­house snitch­es, racism, junk sci­ence, pros­e­cu­to­r­i­al mis­con­duct, and incom­pe­tent coun­sel, Cohen pro­vides a behind-the-scenes look at the prob­lems lead­ing to wrongful convictions.

The most recent com­pre­hen­sive report sum­ma­riz­ing leg­isla­tive, judi­cial, pub­lic pol­i­cy, and oth­er devel­op­ments that have occurred since the American Bar Association’s adop­tion of its death penal­ty mora­to­ri­um res­o­lu­tion in February 1997 is now avail­able.​“Building Momentum: The American Bar Association Call for a Moratorium on Executions Takes Hold” cov­ers activ­i­ty from August 2001 to June 2003. It is the fourth edi­tion of the ABA’s mora­to­ri­um activity update…

The fol­low­ing are excerpts from Summerlin v. Stewart, No. 98 – 99002 (9^th Cir. Sept. 2, 2003): (page num­bers refer to the on-line ver­sion; sub­heads are not part…

A four-month series of​“Funky Winkerbean,” a com­ic strip syn­di­cat­ed by King Features, will focus on cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment. The sto­ry­line, titled​“The Danny Madison Casebook,” exam­ines the prob­lems and emo­tions of the death penal­ty as seen through the eyes of a pub­lic defend­er. The com­ic strip is by car­toon­ist Tom Batiuk, and it will appear in 400 news­pa­pers nation­al­ly. It may also be viewed at…

According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, none of the ana­lysts who worked in the Houston Police Department’s dis­cred­it­ed DNA lab (which pre­sent­ed evi­dence in death penal­ty cas­es) were qual­i­fied by edu­ca­tion and train­ing to do their jobs. The Chronicle’s exam­i­na­tion of per­son­nel records found that not one of the lab’s employ­ees met nation­al stan­dards and only one of the employ­ees had com­plet­ed all required col­lege cours­es man­dat­ed by the DNA Advisory Board…

“Purposeful Discrimination in Capital Sentencing” by David V. Baker exam­ines the issue of race and cap­i­tal sen­tenc­ing in the con­text of three U.S. Supreme Court death penal­ty deci­sions — Furman v. Georgia, Gregg v. Georgia, and McCleskey v. Kemp. After his review of prac­ti­cal strate­gies to improve the fair­ness of the death penal­ty process, Baker con­cludes that court efforts have failed to elim­i­nate race as a strong pre­dic­tor in death sen­tenc­ing. (5 Journal of Law…